atlanta dream

The WNBA has deleted a social media post that appears to show two of its star players, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, making a $400 bet with each other on their teams’ game — an act that seems to be in violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

The post was made Wednesday afternoon on X ahead of that night’s game between Reese’s Atlanta Dream and Bueckers’ Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, and deleted soon after. It featured a video that showed Bueckers talking to a reporter, who mentions that “at All-Star weekend, you and Angel made a bet with each other on this game.”

Bueckers appears to jokingly play dumb. “We did?” she asked.

The video then cuts to footage of Reese and Bueckers, apparently at practice during last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Chicago, joking around and making a friendly wager with each other on the Dream-Wings game later that week.

“If y’all win, you get your 400,” Reese appears to say before adding that if Atlanta wins, “you owe me 400.”

A WNBA spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Times: “While the social media post was intended to be lighthearted, WNBA players are well aware of the league’s policies prohibiting betting on WNBA games and receive training every year reinforcing those policies. We recognized that the post missed the mark, removed it shortly after it was published, and addressed the matter internally.

“We will also use this as an opportunity to reemphasize with the players involved that conversations about wagering on WNBA games, even when intended as a joke, can have negative consequences.”

Reese had 22 points and 12 rebounds in her team’s 82-81 victory against the Dream. During a postgame news conference, Reese laughed out loud when a reporter made reference to the wager she had with Bueckers.

“Yeah, I’ll be requesting my Apple Pay after this,” Reese said.

Reese also apparently was alluding to the bet when she added the hashtag #cuatrocientos (Spanish for four hundred) to an X post later that night.

Bueckers, who had 16 points in the loss, was not asked about the bet after the game.

According to Article XIV, Section 5(c) of the league’s CBA, “Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing to have been guilty of wagering (directly or indirectly), or of offering or attempting to wager, money or anything of value on the outcome, score, or any other aspect of any WNBA Competition shall, in the sole discretion of the Commissioner, be subject to a fine, suspension, and/or dismissal and disqualification from any further association with the WNBA.”

The Women’s National Basketball Players Assn., the Wings and the Dream did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Angel Reese had 23 points and 13 rebounds for her WNBA-leading 16th double-double of the season, Allisha Gray added 20 points, and the Atlanta Dream beat the Sparks 101-92 on Monday night.

Gray made Atlanta’s first field goal of the fourth quarter with 4:07 remaining to tie it at 87. Then, Reese got a friendly roll on her third made three-pointer of the season to make it 90-87 and she added two free throws on the next possession for a five-point lead. Jordin Canada capped the 9-0 run for a 94-87 lead.

Canada finished with 16 points and Rhyne Howard added 11 for Atlanta (14-10), which had lost six of its last seven games. Reese, who missed Saturday’s game against Portland, was seven for 11 from the field and made all eight of her free throws in 32 minutes.

Erica Wheeler scored 20 points, Nneka Ogwumike added 19 and Rae Burrell had 18 for the Sparks (10-12). Cameron Brink (left ankle) missed her eighth straight game and Kelsey Plum (lower left leg) missed her sixth straight.

Up next for Sparks: at Minnesota on Wednesday.

Toronto Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison was tossed from Sunday’s game after committing a hard foul against the Atlanta Dream’s Angel Reese.

Reese had established position in the paint nearly four minutes into the third quarter when she was passed the ball. Harrison reached over and tackled her to the floor. Reese’s teammates immediately jumped in to separate the two players.

The takedown occurred with around 6:05 left in the third quarter, while the Dream were leading 52-42. Officials reviewed the play and Harrison was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for contact that was deemed “unnecessary and excessive” and ejected from the game.

Harrison, who was drafted in 2015, was the leading scorer for the Tempo with 17 points at the time she was tossed. Reese ended the game with 15 points and 17 rebounds in Atlanta’s 102-77 victory. It marks the ninth double-double of the season for the two-time All Star.

WNBA officials have been cracking down on physical play this season after complaints about the level of physicality last year.

Things appeared to get heated between the two former teammates, who crossed paths during Reese’s rookie season with the Chicago Sky, starting in the first half of Sunday’s game at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto. The players could be seen exchanging words throughout their match-up and, at one point during the second quarter, Harrison swatted at the ball being held by Reese after play had already been stopped.

After the game, Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said Harrison’s ejection was “unfortunate” because Harrison was “playing so well.” When asked about what she was hoping to see from her team in their next stretch of games, Brondello mentioned consistency and her players “not getting too high [or] too low.”

“I think sometimes the emotions get the best of us and takes away from how we want to play,” Brondella said.

Dream guard Allisha Gray, who led all scorers with 26 points, praised her teammate after the game.

“Angel’s a beast on the boards,” Gray said. “She does everything that we need to help us win and accomplish our goals for the game. So, I think Angel did really well tonight, keeping her composure and really battling on the boards.”

The Dream (9-4) is currently fourth in league standings, while the Tempo (7-7) sit in ninth place.